2014 – You said we did

Carers Charter – Autumn 2014

You said

In November 2014, NHS North Kirklees CCG Governing Body heard from a local carer who shared her story and talked about the issues she faced whilst trying to care for her family member, looking after other members of her family and working full time. She told us it would be good to have a document that detailed what carers can expect from health and social care organisations.

We did

Following on from this, we have worked with Kirklees Council, NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG and local carers to develop a Carers Charter that is endorsed and championed by all providers of health and social care in Kirklees. To do this, we set up a small group with representatives from the three organisations and carers. The group gained the views of carers from across Kirklees to find out what they would want in a Carers Charter. Using the feedback from online surveys, events and meeting with carers groups the group developed a Carers Charter. In order to ensure that the pledges that organisations made were meaningful to carers and would bring about positive change, the group agreed that an accreditation process would be required. A Carers Panel will be responsible for the awarding of a Charter Mark and review of the awards. The Carers Charter (Kirklees) was shortlisted in the Commissioning Support Services category for a Health Service Journal (HSJ) Value in Healthcare Awards.